So if you watched my Washington, D.C. highlight video, you saw how much time Stephen and I spent eating. Scouting out delicious restaurants and great happy hours is one of my favorite activities while traveling. So today, I’ve compiled a list of everywhere we ate and drank during out trip. Buckle in. We did a LOT of eating. Here are the best places to eat in Washington D.C.
Breakfast
Bethesda Bagels: These bagels are hand-rolled New York style bagels and the location was right down the street from our hotel. Bethesda Bagels has many options for bagels, spreads, sandwiches and fish. It’s a take out location so really easy to grab-and-go!
Market Lunch: Market Lunch does breakfast Tuesday-Friday until 11, and weekend breakfast until 1:30. If you’re headed here for breakfast, get the Blueberry Buckwheat Pancakes with maple syrup, but plan to wait in line! Also, stay tuned because Market Lunch appears on this list more than once.
Ted’s Bulletin: Upstart hosted several bloggers for brunch at Ted’s Bulletin. In case you missed my earlier post, I was in D.C. last week for FinCon with Upstart, an online lending platform that partners with banks to provide personal loans from $1,000-$50,000.* Upstart goes beyond traditional lending metrics to help you find financing that considers your education and experience. Be on the look out next week for my FULL FinCon recap and my awesome trip with Upstart. Ted’s Bulletin has all day brunch! Does that sound like heaven or what? Everyone had something that looked delicious! I had the Crab Benedict which is jumbo lump crab, a poached egg, and house-made hollandaise on an english muffin served with hash browns.
Seafood
Luke’s Lobster: Oooh friends. If you like seafood, specifically lobster rolls, do I have the place for you. Luke’s Lobster has the most delicious rolls. All of their rolls are made with 1/4 lb chilled wild caught lobster, crab, or shrimp, in a buttered bun with mayo, lemon butter, and seasoning. We ordered a crab roll and a lobster roll and each had half with french fries and blueberry lemonade. This was my favorite place we visited in D.C. I’m drooling thinking about these rolls right now. We went to the Georgetown location and it’s the perfect little over-the-counter spot with a boat theme. Seriously Luke’s what do I have to do to get a roll shipped to me in Atlanta right now?
Urbana: We stumbled across this restaurant while looking for happy hours. Lucky for us–it was also oyster happy hour!! We split half a dozen oysters on the half shell and mussels with white wine, butter, lemon, chili flakes, and crostini. Urbana has happy hour every. single. day. and that includes $6 glasses of wine. This was a jackpot find for sure!
Market Lunch: Remember that time I said you would see them on this list again? Welp here it is. Market Lunch has some delicious seafood sandwiches. I had the crab cake sandwich and Stephen had the Haddock Sandwich. Both were delicious–one of the best crab cakes I’ve ever had. The cool thing about Market Lunch is it’s in the middle of a farm fresh market full of meat, fish, cheese, flowers, produce, and baked goods. Side note: get the cannoli. I won’t include them a third time in the dessert section, but the cannoli is legit.
Pizza
Flippin’ Pizza: This cute little pizza place was right down the street from the hotel and had a special of 2 slices of pizza and a drink for $8! It was goooood pizza too. So good that I actually lost track of how many times we had it. I think three. One time I picked it up after a conference event to take to the bar where Stephen was watching the Tennessee game. Flippin’ Pizza was a great find!
Jumbo Slice: If you saw my Instagram post, you know how “jumbo” we are talking here. We found this place after a night out in Adams Morgan and it was a magical moment. I mean, you could practically hear the hallelujah chorus playing in the background. It’s open late and really really good pizza. So if you go bar-hopping in Adams Morgan, make a stop at Jumbo Slice afterwards!
Desserts
Ice Cream from an Ice Cream Truck: there is just something about walking around the National Mall with an ice cream covered in rainbow sprinkles. 10/10 recommend. I can’t remember the name, but we liked the blue ice cream truck if you see it around!
Georgetown Cupcake: You knew I was including this. We had to make a stop at Georgetown Cupcake! It was worth it too. I had the coconut cupcake and Stephen had cookies and cream. Both were delicious and Stephen said walking into the bakery was like walking into an Instagram filter lol. Fun fact: they ship nationwide!
Nightlife
Adams Morgan: This is a fun area of D.C. with bars and restaurants. We went to The Game to watch some late night football, and Dave’s Cafe which is a total dive, but it was fun! There is also lots of karaoke, a Tiki Bar, and Insomnia Cookies in Adams Morgan.
The Board Room: This is fun bar! It has lots of board games so you can play while you hangout. We watched some football here and enjoyed $4 glasses of wine during happy hour. There isn’t food here, so this is the bar where I brought pizza while Stephen was watching the game. It’s a fun scene!
Have you been to D.C.? What was the best place you ate?
I went to Washington once and I fell in love with this city! I hope I can visit Washington and try these places to eat. Nice recommendations
Thank you! I hadn’t been to D.C. since high school and was so happy to go back!
I would be 1000% on board for jumbo slice pizza, that is basically what my dreams are made of!!!
I totally agree! It was worth the extra calories!
I can’t look away from that giant piece of pizza! My partner and I LOVE pizza, and the bigger the slice, the better ??
Yes!! It was the biggest slice of pizza I’ve ever seen.
That pizza is insane! But honestly, seems so worth it lol
HA it was a little excessive, but totally worth it!
I need to do cupcakes and pizza next time I’m in DC! I loved Founding Farmers for brunch and Hill Country BBQ.
Oh thanks for the recs! I’m going to have to add these to my list for next time!
That pizza is huge! I had a 4 hour layover in Washington DC on Monday. I should’ve went out and explored.
Oh gosh, and it’s a smaller airport than I would have anticipated. Next time, lots of the monuments are pretty close by!
My cousin just came back from DC and is OBSESSED with Georgetown cupcakes! That pizza-omg.
They are seriously the best. I was worried they wouldn’t live up to the hype, but totally worth the trip!
This all sounds great! I’m lucky I don’t leave near a place that has jumbo pizza like that, because if I came across it at night after bar hopping… yeah, I’d be in trouble haha!
Oh me too! This is a travel-only situation. LOL
Wow! I love eating my way through cities. =) You got to try some delicious foods. Yay!
It’s my favorite way to travel!!